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“The Curated Object will become an important resource for collectors, designers, journalists, and enthusiasts from across the spectrum of design. At last, the design world will have its own clock.”-
ELLEN LUPTON, Cooper-Hewitt Curator, Design Journalist, Writer, Critic and Proprietor of DESIGN, WRITING, RESEARCH

HOW IT WORKS

Find an exhibition and GO!

We are a NON-PROFIT guide and educational resource
(a 501(c)(3)-pending organization). Use our listings to find DECORATIVE ARTS + DESIGN EXHIBITIONS by CITY, COUNTRY or OPENING DATE. We do not accept advertising. We are interested in research and analyses by design philosophers, curators, antiquaries, museologists and radical historians. Send a press release so we can create a complimentary museum exhibition listing. Contact: CuratedObject@Gmail.com

Our Philosophy

Sometimes whispering and other times shouting, objects have their own time and cadence. The Curated Object is interested in the exhibition of objects and those who find our engagement with them compelling. Objects act out all the time and revolt against us. Listening carefully is our quest.

From waking to the rooster's crow to catching the 8 am train, how Americans tell and value time has changed over the centuries. "For All Time: Clocks and Watches from the National Heritage Museum" is a new exhibition, opening August 15, 2009, that explores the story of timekeeping through spectacular objects drawn from the Museum's own collection. The Museum is pleased to present a focused look at this part of our holdings—a topic that has long been popular with visitors. Each of the 95 clocks in the exhibition—ranging in dates from the 1650s to the 1950s—is a complicated machine with its own story to tell about who used, made or marketed it and, most interesting, how it fit into Americans' relationship with time. Twenty-two watches are also presented.

"For All Time" examines the notion of time in Colonial days, when people relied on nature—the sun, moon, tides and seasons—to gauge the passing hours. Bells, public sundials, and town clocks helped people plan their business or social engagements. The exhibition also traces the history of how timepieces evolved from prizes owned by status-conscious families—as illustrated by the lovely tall case clock made by noted Boston clockmaker Benjamin Willard—to affordable objects, ubiquitous to every home.

The clockmaking revolution spurred by Connecticut inventor Eli Terry in the early 1800s is explored, revealing how moderately-priced wooden works made affordable time pieces available to many Americans. American watch making took off mid-century when Aaron Dennison opened his factory in Waltham, Massachusetts, and proved that the United States could "compete with the cheap labors of the old countries." By 1900, many watch-making companies had made literally millions of watches. Pocket watch production and ownership reached its peak in the decades between 1880 and 1920.

In the mid-1800s, spurred by increasing need, capacity and competition, clock manufacturers began offering a greater variety of timepieces for purchase. Different makers hoped their products would stand out in the crowd, as most assuredly two timepieces on view did—the owl-shaped clock sold by Theodore Starr and the handsome Father Time clock manufactured by E. N. Welch. Designers also created clocks to complement particular home decoration schemes. By the 1900s, many Americans owned several clocks, selected for their size, function or style, and displayed them throughout their homes.

Many of the clocks in "For All Time" came to the Museum from the collection of Ruth and Willis R. Michael of York, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Michaels' gift of over 140 objects from her husband's collection forms the core of the Museum's timepiece holdings. An exuberant ironwork tall clock and a 19th-century French clock, which features a female figure whose graceful arms point to the time, are a few of the many pieces from the collection on view. Mr. Michael was a tool and die maker and entrepreneur who purchased his first clock in the late 1930s—a tall case clock crafted in the late 1700s by George Hoff of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In Mr. Michael's own words, that's when he "got the bug." His collection soon grew to include hundreds of items.

A few years after Mr. Michael died, Mrs. Michael began making a series of gifts from her husband's collection to Museum, newly founded by the Scottish Rite Masons of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. She likely did so in honor of her husband's lifelong involvement in Masonry. The Museum's collection is richer for the Michaels' enthusiasm and generosity.

From lipsticks to locomotives, Raymond Loewy and his industrial design firms created some of the most important design innovations in the 20th century. “Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture, opening on October 13, 2007 at the National Heritage Museum, showcases his work, placing it in the wider context of the shaping of a modern look for consumer culture. His career is brought to life by an array of original drawings, models, products, advertisements, photographs, and rare film footage of Loewy at work. The exhibition is on view through March 23, 2008.

Raymond Loewy became involved in the emerging world of industrial design in the 1920s after a successful career in commercial illustration. He eventually would become the best-known industrial designer in the world. He spent more than five decades streamlining and modernizing silverware and fountain pens, supermarkets and department stores. Loewy and his teams designed the color scheme and logo for Air Force One, the John F. Kennedy memorial stamp, the Greyhound Scenicruiser, and the interiors for NASA’s Skylab. Clients included such icons as Coca-Cola, Exxon, and Lucky Strike cigarettes.

On view is the sleek model of the 1951 “bullet nose” Studebaker Champion. The Champion represents the first of the Studebaker line to have that particular style front end. The circular design that was mimicked in the interior instrument panel and dashboard was meant to convey the look and feel of an airplane. The more than five-foot tall, stunning UPB 100 Jukebox was designed for United Music Corporation. Introduced in 1958, it was offered in five color schemes. Raymond and his wife Viola Loewy placed one of these machines in their Fifth Avenue apartment for their guests’ enjoyment. Visitors will also enjoy the GG1 locomotive model designed by Loewy to launch an effort to modernize the railroad’s image. Streamlining began as an attempt to shape and smooth transportation vehicles along aerodynamic lines for greater operating efficiency, but in reality it was almost always done for the sake of appearance. It soon became the dominant visual style of the 1930s.

“Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture” draws heavily on Loewy’s personal archives, a treasure collection of images and information not previously available to researchers or the public. A national magazine said of him in 1950, “Loewy has probably affected the daily life of more Americans than any other man of his time.” Many of his designs are still in use today.

“Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture,” is made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and is organized by the Hagley Museum and Library and toured by ExhibitsUSA.

In 1972 the motivating force behind the founding of the Museum, Commander George A. Newbury described the work of the institution as, "...to tell a thrilling story-the story of America." Since then we have been collecting objects, documents and books associated with American and Masonic history with Newbury's goal in mind. A new exhibition, "Remember Me: Highlights from the National Heritage Museum" explores some of the stories found in the museum and library collections.

The exhibition features a wide variety of materials-from lodge furnishings to household objects and photographs. Every object in the exhibition, be it an artfully engraved medal or a scuffed doll's trunk, offers a connection to a person, time or event. Some of the objects on view will be personal creations, such as the diary of a Maine schoolgirl or a quilt made by an Indiana homemaker. Others will be everyday objects like a worn lunch box or a well-loved toy that recall the tasks and pleasures of day-to-day life decades ago.

The Museum is privileged to hold material related to people who participated in events that shaped the course of wars or politics including a powder horn carved by a prisoner at civil war prison camp in Texas. As well, objects in the exhibition tell how Americans have reflected on their own history years ago as they imagined the arrival of the Pilgrims in the 1600s or marked the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The Museum also has special collections relating to the history of Freemasonry and other fraternal organizations in the United States. "Remember Me" will showcase some of the unique material related to Freemasonry including a tracing board from the 1800s and sundial decorated by reminders of the Masonic values of brotherhood and benevolence.